VRBOReviews 2,003

Two nights, two people! Check out the attached photo of the cost! All these fees and charges are absolutely ridiculous! Unless your fee schedule and business model change, I will never use VRBO! You have become as unsustainable as AirBnB!

The phrase "caveat emptor" is Latin for "let the buyer beware." These words describe the Vrbo.com experience.

We booked a property three months ago through this website. Paid in full. They excepted our money. Then, three days before our arrival time, I get a note from the property owner canceling our reservation. They stated in the cancellation that they received a better offer on another platform.

I tried to contact support through Vrbo.com on multiple occasions over the past couple of days. No response at all from them. In my eyes, by turning a blind eye to these shady, underhanded, possibly illegal, business practices buy the property owner,Vrbo is condoning these behaviors.

Now, instead of the property owner being punished, I'm suffering by having to find new accommodations three days before. When I booked this property, three months ago, they were plenty of options. Now, all the good options are gone.

Where is the support? What are they going to do to help? The answer is, there is none, and nothing.

So my recommendation, is to stay far far far away from anything that is listed on this platform.

I'll move my business to either Airbnb or traditional hotel. At least there, if there are any issues, their support. This is absolute ridiculous behavior condoned by this website.

Cost me an additional $500 for the four nights and we have to split the stay between two properties in two towns.

If you want peace of mind, use another platform.

Never book with VRBO again!
We booked a Riad in Marrakech through VRBO and paid by credit card on the same day. Upon arrival the Riad did not have any information about our booking and as they were fully booked we could not stay there. We therefore had to book two other places and pay for them again.
After contacting the VRBO support several times, we still DID NOT GET ANY REFUND, which is very annoying as the time spent to time and time again explain the issue was wasted as well! As we do not expect to see our money again, we will NEVER EVER BOOK ON VRBO again! Unbelievable that they are just keeping the money for nothing in return!

I booked a vacation rental months in advance. The owner later canceled when the vacation got closer. I am in the process of getting my refund back. I had another company call me out of the blue telling me my reservation was cancelled. Since I didn't book with them I thought it was a scam. After talking to VRBO, they washed their hands of it all "Talk to the rental company." I rented from you! VRBO should guarantee that you will get the same accommodations or better, near the place, for the same price. Now I'm looking for a place close and can't find one for anywhere near the same price.

Wish I would have seen all these negative reviews first. Their website messed up our reservations. I put 4 people in a 3 bedroom house that sleeps 11 total people. Somehow that was equal to just one person on the reservation. Then when I got to the home, someone else was already renting.

Two of us drove to the house which was in VA, one took the train from NC, and the last flew from GA. Money was spent to get to our "Home away from home" experience. We wanted to spend time together because these friends are like family. One of the most important thing was we wanted to cook Easter Sunday dinner together.

Customer Service seemed kind. The people who set up our hotel room were a little bit frustrating because it took too long from them to understand not only did your systems mess by double booking the room, but the number of occupants that were staying. Eventually though we got two rooms.

After the two days in the hotel room and waiting for the "urgent" response from rebooking, we gave up. The four of us spent the remaining 3 days in my tiny apartment. At least we were able to cook and we were together.

Vrbo made our vacation more difficult and more frustrating than anything else. They did refund the amount we spent on the house. However we had to spend money to get to this nightmare.

This is the place to avoid, the hostess was nice and that's where ends. This is a dump and had others been honest we would not of stayed there. The lock on the sliding glass door was a small chain with a paddlelock. The carpet was gross, tub was dirty, fake plants covered in dust. Deck to get to the room is dangerous. Nothing in the room matched, pillows are decades old.

"I had a very disappointing experience with VRBO and the host, Careen Santos. I booked a vacation rental property for my mother's surprise 60th birthday celebration on February 12th, which was fully paid for. Before confirming my reservation, the host Careen Santos asked me what the reason for my stay was and the age of every person staying at her home. After 24 hours, the reservation was confirmed.

Over six weeks later on May 30th, I received a message from the host stating that she would like me to cancel the reservation because the price I reserved the property under was not accurate. I immediately contacted VRBO to explain the situation, as family members were flying in for the celebration. VRBO informed me that it was the host's responsibility to ensure the accurate pricing was listed and that the host had the right to cancel the reservation or increase the price at any point in time. I was shocked that someone could increase the price six weeks after the reservation was confirmed just because they realized they had listed the price inaccurately. VRBO also informed me that they would not cover the difference, and the host would be penalized for poor business practices if they did not honor the reservation or at least discount the difference.

I was disappointed with the lack of customer service and care from both VRBO and the host. Despite multiple attempts to speak with management on more than five separate occasions, I was told that my case would be elevated, and I would receive a call. However, there has been no resolution to date.

The host, Careen Santos, currently has her property listed at $497 per night. It is clear that she canceled my reservation so she could make a few hundred dollars more over a three-night stay. I am disgusted with how Careen Santos and VRBO handled this situation. It is evident that they do not care about their customers or their reservations. I will never book with VRBO again, and I caution others to be careful when booking with this host or this company. If you are looking for a vacation rental, there are plenty of other options available that value their customers and their reservations."

In March 2023 I used Vrbo.com to book a rental house for our spring break vacation to see our grandkids in San Antonio, TX. My son-in-law is stationed at Lackland AFB so we wanted somewhere close by and found a nice little house near the base. I had messaged the property owner several times but never received entry instructions for the house. I was able to find a phone number (through AirBNB) and called the owner. He said the property was no longer available and that it shouldn't have been listed, although it was still active on both Vrbo and AirBNB. We did receive a full refund but because it was spring break, there was nothing else available anywhere near their home and it would be several hundred dollars more at a hotel over 30 minutes away. When ended up sleeping on the couch at my daughter's house and made the best of a bad situation. Several days later I received an email inviting me to leave a review, which I did. Here's what I posted. According to the property owner the property should have been unlisted from Vrbo months earlier. This left us stranded without anywhere to stay during spring break. I don't know that I'll be using this app to book a property in the future. Date of arrival - March 11,2023 Today I received an email from Vrbo.com stating my review could not be posted to their site because it did not meet their content guidelines and that my submission contains a customer service-related issue and that I would need to contact their customer service staff. When I contacted them I was told that because I did not complete my stay I was not able to post a review. Since they are not allowing me to review the property owner, who may or may not be at fault, or their service I'm reviewing them here and warning you to be careful if you use their service.

I rented a property through VRBO and had some difficulties with the property. It was managed by a property management company. The property manager and I were discussing matters directly, as is required by the VRBO policy to try to settle matters directly with the Owner. When that failed, I contacted Vrbo for assistance in receiving a refund. VRBO then quoted me policy that I was required to contact them during my stay. This is not specified anywhere on the VRBO site. Instead they advertise "Book with Confidence guarantee" & "24/7 customer service available ". Bulls…. I spoke to 3 different customer service reps (csr) because they kept dropping my call. They did not call me back (even though they confirmed my ph # & told me they would call back if call dropped!) They had no notes from one another. Had to start from beginning each time.the last csr I spoke to had to put me on hold every minute to get an answer to any of my basic questions. Then she told me her supervisor was not available. Basically there is no one you can speak to at VRBO with any discretion or authority if you have a problem, AND they have no interest in assisting you. AirBnB is far more helpful.

VRBO explain on their chat box that service fees are 10%+VAT. When querying my fees, which are more than that, all the agent could repeat like a mantra was..."it's system generated"! I call that zero customer service.

We have been using VRBO for more than 10 years now. Every time we post a new listing, they have it on 'hidden' mode. Every time, we have to call and open a case against it. Every time, they say it will take up to 72 hours to fix. This time, it's been 10 days, and they still have not fixed the issue. We call everyday, yet all they can tell us is 'wait 24 more hours'. Really? 24 hours everyday for the last 7 days! And then when the weekend rolls in, we have to wait until Monday to get an update. We have people interested in rentingo our property, at the same time we are losing out against other similar properties that travelers can see. How hard is it really to fix a hidden listing and unhide it? Sounds like a one-click fix to me. If they can't easily fix a problem in their site, they should not have it. Their customer service and technical support are the worst!

Prior to this negative experience, I've not used VRBO. I found a property I wanted to book, and sent in a legitimate Request to Book via vrbo.com. Supposed to hear back within 24 hours. Crickets. Then I checked the listing again and it was booked for two of the three days I wanted it. I called the 877# and they pretty much said their system arbitrarily cancelled my request with no notification and no reason. On Airbnb, I'm a five-star guest with a spotless credit rating, so it couldn't be that. Two long-wait phone calls to 877# and numerous exchanges with the host and still no resolution. Then I received an email stating that the case that VRBO opened for me was closed, and was I satisfied? Take the survey and let them know just how happy I am with the outcome! Insult to injury, VRBO Sucks! Please stay away and use Airbnb instead, I've never had a problem with them. Amen.

Had a problem with a property rented through VRBO and Master Vacation Homes. VRBO was no help at all, but they still charge their Service Fee. Master Vacation Homes needs some real Management - thought I was talking to a machine all the time - they almost never address the problems with their rentals - just come up with far fetched answers. They get less than a 1 on the ratings.

This is crazy the host has said the dates I paid for are not available they are giving me the run around getting my refund I highly advise do not book nothing here

In October of 2022 we attempted to book a ski vacation through VRBO. We were put in touch by VRBO with Chimera (in charge of booking the condominium). They quoted 9,400 for a unit that was listed at 13,500 for the week. They sent an email confirming this action. In our next credit card statement, the original charge of 13,500 was indicated. After numerous attempts to reach Chimera via phone and email and with no response form Chimera, we again contacted VRBO. The standard response from VRBO was "After checking the situation, we attempted to contact the host for your reservation. The host didnt answer our calls. Our next step is to contact them through email and wait for a response". Today, 4 months lated, we still have a charge for 13,500 which we never authorized and we never went on the trip. To me this is fraud and unacceptable and I am very displeased with VRBO for their inactivity in this matter. I will never use VRBO for a vacation again.

I'm a host, They have this policy where the host does not get the first booking payout until 30 after the reservation takes place which is not only unethical as a business but borderline illegal. Withholding funds for a paid transaction for so long only to commingle and reinvest in their own interests. To add insult to injury, they come up with all these "flaws" in the application process such as Tax forms that don't apply to the host etc. Customer service is worse than these grievances. With untrained reps that just can't seem to be able to solve a simple issue such as payout for money owed to host. The guest paid, the guest use the property, VRBO got the money, and the host gets to have to struggle to get paid. Don't use this platform is a scam.

I rented a house for 3 weeks. It smelled of mold and I began having asthma attacks. I had to leave the next day. No one would help. I paid $2300 for one night of lodging and had to pack up and go home. Not one cent of refund and VRBO will do nothing about lodging that is unsafe for people with respiratory problems.

Worst experience ever! Host never sent code to open door! We were left stranded! Received confirmation codes & emails from VRBO. Thought everything was booked. Sent 3 emails & 3 voicemails to host. FINALLY he calls me and I am told the apartment we rented is his but we didn't rent it from him, the actual owner. Someone must have copied his listing & created a fake listing so we didn't have a place to stay! VRBO wasn't helpful at all. I will never use them again! They said they would find us another place to stay but hung up on me after 10 minutes on hold. They never called me back. I called again and they put me on hold for another 15 minutes. They came back on not knowing why I was on hold! I called a third time and I couldn't understand the representative, they spoke very poor English. I gave up. They put a major damper on our vacation. We had to sleep on top of each other at a sketchy hotel. Also, advertised rate was $225 per night and there was over $250 in additional fees with 4 taxes!

Horrible Experience! Fraud and Lies.Booked an apartment in Paris at 18 Cité Fleurs, ******* Paris. France belonging to Jean Christophe Saladin. The reservation was accepted and he charged my Amex $1400.00. Then a few days later, Jean Christophe said he could not rent the apartment and cancelled the reservation and refused to refund my $1400. I was well within my free cancellation period. He denied charging me. I sent him proof of the Amex bill, he still denies it. I have spent hours on the phone with VRBO exposing the fraud and demanding a refund. Still waiting. Plus Jean Christophe misrepresented the property as a 2 bedroom. It is a one bedroom. He put a twin bed in the living room and thinks that makes it a two bedroom. Unbelievable! Fraud and lies from Jean Christophe and inaction from VRBO. They can see he cancelled the booking, yet keep transferring me and doing nothing. DO NOT BOOK THROUGH VRBO!

I booked a long-term stay in Italy 9 months ago and provided a deposit of over $6K+. Without cause, the homeowner canceled my stay - refunded part of my money and VRBO did nothing! They said they would have relocation services call me - NOTHING. They said they would have a supervisor call me - NOTHING. They said the HO would be penalized - NOTHING. They didn't even refund the total amount but asked me to eat the currency exchange fees - DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH VRBO! Don't rent from this scammer either - Property ID*******